Reviews

Lifted or The Story is in the Soil....

Bright eyes, so raw and uncut, yet so clean and well composed. Some may say that his latest albums have really gone down hill, but this one conquers the hill.
Bright eyes are known for its one time recording, completely uncut, and diversity in the music. Well there is a change, this album does sounds like he went to a recording studio, but it doesn't change the Bright Eyes feel to it.
To get a better understanding of what this album is about, it's better to just skip the first track, “The Big Picture". It's an awesome song, but it starts at the drive to the recording studio, so its 8 minutes long, with hardly 4 minutes of music. “Method Acting" has a very catchy drum line to it, and with its choir in the background, it gives you a whole new outlook in music. The next track, “False Advertising" is more of a waltz, but don't think it sucks because of that. Its one of the few songs on this CD that may not be done in a recording studio, with the static in the background, and even the stop of music when someone walks in the room, shows that he doesn't need fancy equipment to sound great. “You will. You? Will You? ...." is yet another song that you can tell is not recording studio quality, since it sounds live. It starts with just acoustic guitar and vocals, and ends with numorous instruments in the background. The next song sounds like its about one night stands. Titled “Lover I Don't Have to Love" begins with him singing about picking up a girl, and ends with some amazing vocals about the pain in love, amazing song nonetheless. The next on has....piano? Yep, that's piano, bass and light drums. Interestingly Titled “Bowl of Oranges" it was apparently the hit of the CD, with a music video and the whole bit. Next song “Don't Know When but the Day is Gonna Come" and its kind of depressing, end of story. Next on the list..."Nothing gets crossed out" or better known as amazing. I think this is probably the best song on the CD, but there are some close runner ups. You basically have to listen to this song, nothing left to say. Then he hits you up with Bowl of Oranges, which is more or less a collection of stories, sang with an acoustic guitar keeping the beat. To be honest, this song is over 6 minutes long, and it will eventually bore you, but until it does, it's a great song to just relax to. “From a Balance Beam" has been played on my CD countless times, and countless times to come. Awesome song, and not because of the bongo drums, but because of the lyrics; the lyrics of this song, and many other Bright Eyes songs are simply amazing. The next song has this big country intro, but isn't too badly played. And its one of his more known songs...titled “Laura Laurent." Then the final song comes from this masterpiece, played with an organs and guitars with drums. It's really uncut, considering about how he is yelling “Can I get a god damn tympani roll!?" at the beginning. Unfortunately he says in this song “And I do not read reviews", so don't expect him around here anytime soon.
This CD would be perfect, but some songs just don't click well with the rest of the CD. Still one of my favorite CDs of all times, if you have 14 dollars, buy this shit, you won't regret it.